Celebrate Vinyl Record Day with a Vinyl Record Brownie

We celebrated Record Store Day earlier this year, but did you know that August 12 is Vinyl Record Day? The idea is to dedicate a day to the preservation of vinyl records and their cultural significance. It’s a cause that’s near and dear to our hearts — while we love the ease and convenience that comes with digital downloads and being able to listen to anything our hearts desire by pressing a couple of buttons on our phones, we miss the feeling of actually possessing a piece of music that we can hold in our hands. And while CDs are nice, there’s something special about a big piece of vinyl, where you can see the grooves that produce the music you love so much. And that’s not even taking the cover art into account!

We love this video from Kalle Mattheson, a man who obviously also laments the lost art of record covers:

We’ve all heard that vinyl records are “in” again and it’s true that sales are continuously up (which isn’t that great a feat considering they would have been at about zero a decade ago), but to prevent the resurgence of the vinyl record from being a fad that fades away, we need to collectively support artists that choose to release their albums on vinyl and the stores that sell vinyl. The people behind Vinyl Record Day encourage music fans to throw parties on August 12 and spin some platters, as the kids used to say, and to share the joy of analog music with friends who may not have rediscovered records yet. Of course, any good party includes food, and we’d suggest serving something out of a vinyl record bowl (though, we beg of you only to use records that are so scratched that they wouldn’t be any good to listen to anymore) or to make a cake (which is always a great way of celebrating). I’m no cake decorator, though, if I was, I’d make something that looks like this:

But, no one wants to end up on the Cake Wrecks blog, so I decided to go with something simpler. Here’s what I did — I made up a batch of my Grandma Ruby’s famous brownies (your grandma’s recipe would also do) in a round cake pan (10″ would be most accurate, but any round size would work). Then I made a simple chocolate frosting. I bought some black fondant from a craft supply store and rolled it out, then cut a circle just a little bit bigger than the round brownie (which was cooled and waiting to be decorated). I grabbed some round glasses and bowls of varying sizes from my cupboard and placed them on the circle of fondant, tracking around them with a knife (being careful not to cut through the fondant) to make some grooves. I then dusted the “record” with some black edible shimmer (also purchased at a craft supply store) to give it a gleam. I then rolled out some pink fondant and cut out a circle for the record label, poked a hole in the middle of it with a chopstick, and drew on it with a cake decorating pen. I should note, I’ve never worked with fondant before, and all of this was much much easier than I thought it would be. Keep it simple, and work steadily so the fondant doesn’t dry out.

I “stuck” the record label onto the record itself with a dab of the chocolate frosting. I then spread a thin and even layer of frosting over the entire round brownie and carefully laid the fondant over the frosting, pressing down gently to stick it on (be careful, fingerprints will show on the fondant). And that’s it! Behold:

The other piece that’s needed to make Vinyl Records Day work is retailers need to entice record buyers to come out and buy vinyl records, especially new ones (though buying at used stores, thrift shops and garage sales is also a great way for a new audiophile to build a collection). You can find vinyl records at all sorts of places now — in addition to most record stores, they’re starting to pop up at book stores, and, here in Canada, one of our favourite multi-purpose stores, London Drugs. London Drugs carries over 400 vinyl titles in store with 100s more available online (and as a discerning music fan, I can tell you, it’s really good stuff). The London Drugs crew is hosting a party here in Calgary on August 12 in the parking lot of their Heritage Drive location (8330 MacLeod Trail SE) from 3 pm-7 pm. The crew from the Beatnik Bus will be there with a ton of used vinyl for sale and you’ll be able to play any of their 600 used vinyl selections if you pony up a donation for the Calgary Food Bank. Of course, London Drugs will also be offering up deals on vinyl — buy any thre LPs and you’ll receive your choice of Storms by Hedley, Bob Marley’s Legend Remastered, Bryan Adams’ Reckless, Bon Jovi’s Live picture disc, Director’s Cut by Kate Bush, or Because of Billy by Molly Johnson for free. You can also get a free LP of your choice (value up to $39.99) when you purchase the August Speaker Deal of the Month Package or any dual turntable.

So, there’s no excuse to not get on the vinyl train. Help protect the joy of being able to hold a piece of music in your hand and spread the magic of vinyl on August 12!

This post was sponsored by London Drugs. While we were compensated, all opinions are our own and we genuinely love vinyl records and support any efforts to keep the vinyl resurgence going.